By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
It is only by God’s infinite grace that more people are not injured or killed crossing streets in Cherokee, particularly at the eight crosswalks that exist in the downtown area and the ones scattered throughout Acquoni Road and Tsali Blvd.
When I was a young man, many moons ago, and attending Western Carolina University (Class of ’83), one of the things I found out early on was that pedestrians had the right-of-way anywhere on the campus. It didn’t matter why or where a person might be in the middle of a roadway; anything with wheels on it had to stop until that person was safe on the curb before the car, bus, moped, bicycle, or unicycle could proceed. It was a campus-wide mandate. Posted on signs throughout WCU and written boldly in your orientation materials. It was such a norm that students rarely even looked up as they left the curb and entered the roadway on foot because they had no fear that any vehicle would risk the wrath of the college should they scare the dickens out of someone walking in the roadway. As a vehicle operator, you just did not interfere with students hoofing it to do classes and daily business on campus.
North Carolina State Statute 20-173 says, “Where traffic-controlled signals are not in place or in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping, if need be, to yield to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at or near an intersection. Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle. The driver of a vehicle emerging from or entering an alley, building entrance, private road, or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian, or person riding a bicycle, approaching on any sidewalk or walkway extending across such alley, building entrance, road, or driveway (www.ncleg.net).”
In North Carolina, failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk may cost between $100 to $500 fine, court costs, and four points on your license. Points on your license may significantly increase your insurance rates, and with repeat infractions, may lead to your license being suspended. Depending on the circumstances, a driver could face a 60-day jail sentence and a $1000 fine (Vasquez Law Firm).
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking out of the Ginger Lynn Welch Complex to walk up to take pictures of the Cultural Grounds progress. There is a crosswalk directly in front of the GLW building. Before the Water and Sewer project (which I believe is now in its second or third year), the parking lot at GLW was completely paved, with a sidewalk that ran the length of the road parallel to the building. The existing crosswalk had recently been augmented with caution signage, complete with pedestrian-operated warning lights. When the Water/Sewer lines necessitated tearing out the sidewalk and parking lot, it also uprooted the caution signage. As of this writing, the sign, sidewalk, and pavement have not been replaced.
The speed limit on this stretch of road is 25 miles per hour. As I took my first step into the crosswalk, I saw a SUV barreling up, heading in the direction of Saunooke Village. It was going considerably above the speed limit. I pulled my foot back just as the SUV blew through the crosswalk. It was only my cat-like reflexes that kept me from being a victim of a careless speeder on Acquoni Road. All jokes aside, the driver of this vehicle demonstrated little care for anything but getting to where they wanted to go. I don’t know if it was a man or a woman, and it doesn’t matter. What matters is that this type of arrogance and ignorance is not isolated and far from uncommon. I did notice this vehicle had out-of-state tags.
Why would anyone blow through a crosswalk? One possibility is arrogance. For the same reason that many people don’t adhere to the speed limit. They either think that they have superhuman abilities or that laws were made for less smart people. In their ignorance, they say, “Why am I made to go at a snail’s pace, 20 mph, through the downtown when, with my driving skills, I can safely drive 50 mph with no problem. Besides, I have important things to attend to. Those people in the crosswalk can wait. I’ll just navigate around them. They are in my way.”
On my way back from the Cultural Grounds, I used the crosswalk in front of the Cherokee Welcome Center. This crosswalk is clearly marked with caution signs on each side of the road, alerting drivers to possible pedestrian traffic. This time, I got halfway across the crosswalk (in the middle of the road) when a car blew through the crosswalk, inches from me. They were going considerably above the posted 25 mph limit on that stretch of Tsali Blvd. This time, the car’s tag was one of the EBCI (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) vanity license plates issued by the state of North Carolina. Those are only issued to enrolled members of the tribe.
Look, I understand the impossible task of physically policing this behavior. Our officers should not spend all their time monitoring crosswalks for pedestrian protection, although I will tell you that I have seen some of our Cherokee Indian Police Officers try to curb the enthusiasm of speeders in the downtown area and have even seen a couple of cars pulled over for not yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks. For that, I say thank you to our CIPD. But it puts them in a no-win situation. While they have one car pulled over, ten will exhibit the same behavior and drive past them while they issue one ticket. The CIPD just doesn’t have the personnel to catch all the arrogant and ignorant driving behavior.
Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. have reached historic highs, with over 7,000 pedestrians killed annually, roughly one every 72 minutes, and more than 140,000 injured in 2022. These deaths increased by 80% between 2009 and 2023 (National Highway Safety Administration).
Pedestrian deaths are rising much faster than overall traffic fatalities. SUV and pickup truck involvement in pedestrian crashes has surged, with light trucks accounting for 54% of pedestrian fatalities where the vehicle type was known in 2023. One in four (25%) pedestrian deaths result from a hit-and-run crash. Males account for 70 percent of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes. (Governors Highway Safety Association)
The GHSA also says that around 65 percent of pedestrian deaths occur in locations lacking sidewalks and that a pedestrian’s chance of death reaches 50 percent at an impact speed of 42 mph (about the speed many drivers travel up and down Acquoni Road and Tsali Blvd.
If you are in Cherokee day-to-day, you see it happening. The near misses. The disregard of stop signs and speed limits. Pedestrians have already lost their lives on the roadways of the Qualla Boundary.
Urge our tribal chiefs and the Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) to take a serious look at preventative measures to curb the dangerous environment that our business and cultural districts have become. Invite your leaders to do their own, first-hand study by putting on street clothes and attempting to use the crosswalks in the downtown, Acquoni Road, and Tsali Blvd areas.
Many towns have resorted to using cameras and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to not only identify violators but also issue tickets and hold these people accountable for their behavior. It’s possible that citizen watch groups could be created to report violators to the CIPD.
Most of all, do not be one of the arrogant, ignorant individuals who think they are better than other drivers and better than the person in the crosswalk. Decide that showing off for your buddies or getting somewhere two minutes earlier isn’t worth a fine, jail time, or worse, taking someone’s life. Imagine the ones that you love standing in the middle of the road. How would you drive then? Yeah. Drive that way.
